ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County commissioners approved moving forward with spending hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism tax development funding for at least 2 big venues across Orange County.
The comptroller explained that the county had up to $900 million available in tourism development tax (TDT) funding.
Commissioners ended up not approving all of their five big projects recommended by the TDT task force, but they did approve $560 million to expand a portion of the Orange County Convention Center, $69.4 million over 5 years for increased funding towards arts and cultural events, and $90 million for a new sports tower at UCF.
“I feel pretty good about the decisions here because it’s an investment into our community. It’s affirmation that this board of county commission believes in our community,” said Mayor Jerry Demings.
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This comes after months of discussions, including a lot of heated debate at Tuesday’s commission meeting.
“The research I’ve seen on the convention center industry to date says that they’ve had to have a new model to be successful in a lot of places. We don’t know anything about if we’ve adapted to that,” said Commissioner Nicole Wilson of District 1.
“Right now, we don’t have accurate data, accurate studies to make any decisions on anything,” said Commissioner Emily Bonilla of District 5.
Commissioners chose not to move forward at this time with expansions to Camping World Stadium, the Amway Center and the Dr. Phillips Center, though a spokesperson from each of those venues gave presentations to the board.
“I would love to see this money spent helping the community in housing and transit,” said Orange County resident Eugene Stoccardo.
“There are some who want us to expand the use of the tourism development tax, but that’s not a decision we make. That’s a decision the Florida Legislature has to make,” said Mayor Jerry Demings.
Commissioners will return soon for a work session to discuss if and how to move forward with funding of the other venues recommended by the TDT task force, including the Amway arena, Camping World stadium and the Dr Phillips Center.
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